Tag: Vladimir

A slight departure from the norm for this edition of the show with a continuation of the preview of some of the acts playing at the various gigs in Salford this week – however there is also lots of new music to tittilate the ossicles, plus some classic tracks…listen here:

Vladimir – Cold Winters Grasp

I reviewed these guys first ep last August here and gave it a highly recommended – I shall do the same with their debut single which is all pounding bass, post-punk echo drenched guitars, tumbling drums and big vocals – dynamic, epic and rather impressive I have to say. Lovers of big sound will get their ears around this easily – it’s a huge statement if intent, full of emotion and executed with a mix of bravado and joyous abandon.

Band : Vladimir

Release : Vladimir The EP

Lable : Self Released via Bandcamp

Date : 19th August 2011

Ever had one of those weeks?

A good one I mean.

Generally speaking I can go through piles of new singles/EP’s/albums/digital downloads and what have you, and if I get one good tune in a day I count myself lucky. This week though has been particularly fruitful in that everything I’ve been sent has turned out to be pretty damn good indeed.

None more so than the debut release from Dundee’s “Vladimir”.

The band had sent me one of the tracks from the EP “I Fight Fire” a few weeks back and I had been very impressed with its “in your face” attack and effective mix of intense riffing, insistent drums and impressive vocalising. The great thing about this band is that they appear to pick up on the best bits of the groups I like and then sort of mix them together into a rather attractive little package. Comparisons could be made with Sonic Youth in terms of attack/guitar abuse, but there is also the baleful repetition of The Fall in the mix somewhere and a hint of Joy Division maybe. It’s a modern take on post-punk with a hint of shoegaze and hefty slab of hardcore grunginess – if I am going to resort to cliched one-liners.

Vladimir emerged as a four piece in only April this year, and their live performances are already making waves in the Glasgow underground scene apparently. The line up of the band consists of Ross Murray (vocals), Peter Mackenzie (guitar), Joshua Gray (bass) and Sam Taylor (drums).

The band can swerve towards a more “metal” sound at time – as exemplified by the glorious cacophony of “On My Wall” which is a blistering attack on the senses in the realm of Mr James Jewel Osterberg – mining the Detroit punk sound and transferring it north of the border. I defy anyone not to dive into the mosh-pit and do themselves some serious physical damage on listening to it. Fuzzed riffs, powerhouse drums and a vocal sound that melds slacker indifference with Curtis-like tones.

The band mix it up on the EP mind you – it’s not all one particular style – “Passing” for example retains the wall of sound approach but moves it into neo-Kraut (heavy) rock territory with a keening edge of the cliff guitar line hanging perilously over a rhythm section which bulldozes it’s way into your head and melts into a feedback drenched hard ambient coda which morphs into track 4 “Mellow”.

The word that comes to mind after it’s over is “phew!”.

The aforementioned “Mellow” drifts initially into “Unknown Pleasures” soundscapes but then blasts itself into orbit. This is far from mellow by the way – it’s loud, distorted, and intense – moving between moody, introspective bass/guitar sections ( great bass line by the by, and the guitar is pretty neat as well) into one of the most intense pieces of music i’ve heard all year – the difference between this and death/doom/screamo/post-hardcore is that you can hear what Ross is singing and it adds a certain uniqueness to the sound. There are a lot of bands hammering the life out of their instruments and either howling in a guttural fashion over the top, or screeching like some demented banshee – this lot set themselves apart from that by using the voice as a means of communication rather than another link in the sound-chain. Marvellous, and it demands repeat plays to understand all the nuances.

The last track is entitled “Untitled” – I don’ t if they have not thought up a name, or it’s actually called that. It samples the infamous “‘creepin’’’ speech by Charles Manson, over a violent haze of martial drums, distressed guitar, and moves into a melange of found sounds and ambient nastiness and certainly ends the whole experience with the wow factor.

Vladimir the EP is released and launched with a hometown gig at Dexters Dundee on Friday 19 August (Doors 8pm, entry £5), with support from We Were Poseidon, Cha Cha Heels, Manifesto and Wildhouse. The EP will be available to buy at live shows and online via Bandcamp from Monday 22 August at www.vladimir1.bandcamp.com

Ross tells me they will be heading south for gigs shortly I think they are definitely worth checking out live – if they anything like they sound on this EP then I suggest you will be in for a treat.

Moongoose – Continental Drift – Footprints – featuring the whole of this EP on this show – because it is so good…..website here

Ninetails – I.F. – Preview track from a great new EP on Superstar Destroyer which will be out on 10th October – very excited about this band who seem to be able to blend math rock with african guitar sounds and early Yes vocals….

Moongoose – Organic Technology – Footprints

Meniscus – Cursed – War of Currents – excellent new album from this Australian band

Moongoose – By Train – Footprints

The Steam Kings – Happy Full And Fond of You – from the Sleepy Music Level from Brighton

Medications – Long Day – Completely Removed – Devin Ocampo and Chad Molter formed the band from the ashes of Faraquet – they made an EP and we’ve had to wait five years for the latest release.

The Book of Knots – Microgravity – Garden of Fainting Stars -coming out on 29th August – the promo says “The Book Of Knots has had the pleasure of collaborating with some of the worlds most talented musicians, including Tom Waits, Mike Patton, David Thomas, Blixa Bargeld, Jon Langford, and Carla Bozulich. Founding members Matthias Bossi (Skeleton Key, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), Joel Hamilton (producer/engineer for BlakRoc, Pretty Lights), Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) and Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu, Frank Black, Bob Mould) forge a sound both epic and intimate, empowering and devastating. Cinematic, symphonic landscapes give way to crumbling acoustic chamber ballads. Broken guitars and beautifully warped orchestras describe the ungraceful demise of boats, blast furnaces and bloated industries. Accounts of the failed adventures of tragic would-be heroes are given voice in the band’s two previous critically-acclaimed releases. Their newest album serves as the final chapter in the bands “By Sea, By Land, By Air” trilogy. GARDEN OF FAINTING STARS gives dissonant sendoffs to the doomed travellers and early astronauts that plied the skies in a quest for the final frontier: Space. The imagined utopias that await them at the other end of their fantastical journeys inevitably give way to the grim realization which mankind has faced again and again: at every hopeful turn, commonplace realities await us. A vast and empty universe, stretching far beyond infinity, capable of containing the countless imaginary creatures, civilizations, and otherwise terrestrial impossibilities that inhabit our dreams, dies in the fluorescent lighting of the laundry soap aisle at WalMart.”

Pailhead – Ballad – Trait – a short-lived side project of the industrial metal band Ministry, which featured Ian MacKaye on vocals (formerly of The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Skewbald/Grand Union, Embrace, and Fugazi and currently of The Evens). The band’s sound was a dark combination of menacing industrial beats and hardcore punk, predating what Ministry would later do with Jello Biafra in Lard.

The Bilders – Alien – Beatin’ Hearts – Bilders is the professional appellation for many different groups led by New Zealand singer-songwriter Bill Direen. Direen began recording in 1978, when working as a community reporter and DJ for a provincial radio station (Radio Marlborough). He is known for literate lyrics, challenging song-subjects and a hands-on recording style that has produced “many genuine classic compositions” [John Dix, Stranded in Paradise]